The photos, which were believed to have been taken about a year ago, were reportedly shared to Facebook and Instagram after staff sent them to Snapchat.

A spokeswoman for Air New Zealand told News Corp the images were only brought to the airline’s attention “in the past 48 hours”. She said an investigation had “commenced immediately” when staff were alerted.

My guess is they sent them via Snapchat, assuming they’d never be seen again. Some friend (they should unfriend), screenshotted it and put it on a more permanent platform.

That friend sucks.

Yes, this was unprofessional. But being suspended for some only-slightly-racy photos seems a bit extreme to me–especially when they weren’t intending for them to be broadcast. But I can be persuaded–what do you think?

I don’t have a problem with what the crew did. I don’t see how it put safety at risk.

I don’t even think it was necessarily unprofessional. I like seeing the photos of fuzzy dice, Hula girls on the dash, Christmas lights in the cockpit, and similar “fun”, harmless things. It shows me staff feel comfortable working for the airline and enjoy their job. Personally, I’d bust out laughing if I was boarding an aircraft and saw a blow-up doll sitting in the co-pilot’s seat.

One of the optometry college profs in Florida uses generic blow-up dolls as part of his examples of patient exams and some of the difficulties which can occur.

Also, at one of my jobs, we used to have a blow-up sheep (muttonbone.com) which made the rounds. If you screwed up that week, the sheep ended up on your car or in your office until it was handed off to the next poor sod.

Were they suspended because of what the item was, or for having an item that large in the cockpit? Don’t know about the civilian world, but the military takes FOD pretty seriously. While I’m sure pilot’s bring their own bags onto the aircraft, my guess is there are limits or rules to what they’re allowed to bring into the cockpit with them.